Overnight trickle charge yes/no

[Charlie W]

I use my GS for the daily commute, lights and heated grips on for the journey home, and have been putting the bike on a trickle charge overnight via the accessory socket.

Question is am I doing the battery any harm by trickle charging overnight every night, or should I just put on charge once or twice a week.

Any comments greatfully received.

Charlie

 

[judge]

If you're using a battery conditioner like an Optimate or other the battery will only get a charge if senses it is needed then shuts off when it is topped up - that's what I do with mine. Not so sure about trickle charges though

 

[Alex B]

While the bike is parked, is the Optimate connected all the time to the battery in-situ Jud9e ? ie. do you have the front seat permanently off while in the garage and the connected tied in directly to the terminals ?


And - is the Optimate wall-mounted beside the bike and a 13 amp socket ?

Is that safe ??

Cheers

Alex

 

[judge]

While the bike is parked, is the Optimate connected all the time to the battery in-situ Jud9e ? ie. do you have the front seat permanently off while in the garage and the connected tied in directly to the terminals ?

Wheel bike into garage,put on centre stand and plug directly into accessory socket.

And - is the Optimate wall-mounted beside the bike and a 13 amp socket ?

Yep, although its not an Optimate its a Banner - same job, half the price

Is that safe ??

Any reason it wouldn't be? From what angle of safety are we talking here?

 

[Alex B]

I;m impressed !!

The Optimate is about £45 I think. Is the Banner much cheaper than this ?

Finally, would I be cheeky in asking if you have any pics of this setup ?

Alex B

PS: You can tell this is a guy with a battery regularly flattened by my Spyball alarm speaking !!

 

[judge]

Alex,

I believe the Banner was £28 at the Ally Pally show (£50 for two) then £6 for the lead which goes on the moulded placcy plug to a BMW accessory male plug (that is a genuine Optimate accessory).

The Optimate (and Banner) is sold without bracket and BMW lead (though there will be one in the box to fix permanently to the battery terminals though on our bikes the accessory sockets are crying out to be used.

The wall bracket is an additional £15 quid or so but its amazing how effective a couple of cable ties can be

Oh and no idea who retails the Banner sorry -but there are other non-Optimate battery conditioners up to the job I'm sure

And as an owner of the notoriously leccy power deficient R100GS, I KNOW all about flat batteries

No piccies I'm afraid, if I venture into the garage tomorrow I'll snap one or two - though its not rocket science or dreadlfully exciting.

 

[retroman]

Is a flat battery likely on a new(ish) GS that is used daily? I thought battery power loss was only a problem if the bike wasn't used for some time .... perhaps I should make provision if this if is a common problem with BMs ... previous bikes have been Hondas and I've never had a flat battery

 

[judge]

Is a flat battery likely on a new(ish) GS that is used daily?

In theory no,but how much current are you drawing from the bike (heated grips/clothing?, extra lights?, Life sucking Alarm/Immobilisers?) and what sort of daily use is the bike getting (5 miles each way in stop/start traffic?, 10-20 miles of decent cruise?). In getting on for two years my Pan has never had a charge of any sort and has been left for weeks un-used, even with a Spyball alarm (which can go into hibernation) and its never failed me?

But my 100GS? Wouldn't like to risk it.

Having a battery conditioner though can only do good especially in prolonging the battery's life.

 

[Alex B]

Thanks Jud9e,

Unfortunately (or fortunately !) my 1150GS has a Spyball alarm which is a real "juice bleeder" and if the bike isn't used for 3 weeks or more the drain is significant.

I was going to have the Spyball taken off but then last autumn a local motorcycle journalist (who owns an Adv) and some of his mates (also GS1150 or Adv) had all their bikes stolen whilst parked outside a hotel in N.Wales. He wrote about it in the Southampton Daily Echo. He said - no matter how inconvenient they are - put on an alarm. None of their bikes had alarms; only wire cables.

So I decided better to stick with the Spyball and it's thirst. However, a thief would have no fun with my bike unless he could physically lift it onto a van !!

 

[(RIP) maverick]

Charger or Battery

I bought the Optimate and leaving the battery charging over two days it still would not activate the green light shown when fully charged. Tested it on another battery and it was fine within 10 hours. I have the Hawker battery fitted and wondering if it has gone faulty as I have only had it since the BMF last year. The charger is basically to trickle charge a battery but it seems more like it is tickle charging my battery!

Any body had problems with the dry cell/gel batteries before?

Thanks

 

[Greg Masters]

The Optimate is about £45 I think.

I bought one at lunchtime today for the SO's bike from Motorcycle City (or Rotissary or whatever they are now called) for £39.95 and £7.35 for the wall bracket.

Greg

 

[gavin]

I use an optimate 3, i only use the GS when the weather's fine, so if it's in the garage for periods of 2 weeks or more, i plug the charger into the acc. socket and leave it on until i use the bike again.

 

[judge]

Re: Charger or Battery

I bought the Optimate and leaving the battery charging over two days it still would not activate the green light shown when fully charged. Tested it on another battery and it was fine within 10 hours. I have the Hawker battery fitted and wondering if it has gone faulty as I have only had it since the BMF last year. The charger is basically to trickle charge a battery but it seems more like it is tickle charging my battery!

Any body had problems with the dry cell/gel batteries before?

Thanks

Wanna swap chargers (mine's a banner) and see if that eliminates the problem? Lemme know oh married one

 

[(RIP) maverick]

Nice try Andy but think you would be dissapointed coz if memory serves me right this is the Oxford equivalent to the optimate called an optimax or something like that. Bought it at Infinity for £28 and they were marked down from £46 - Now I know why!



ps. Married life ain't all that bad like you guys say, it has been nearly 2 weeks already

 

[Alex B]

An ex-BMW mechanic told me last weekend that it's probably as well to simply connect in a good quality battery charger and hook up for 3-4 hours every weekend - he reckons it's safe just to connect the croc clips to the respective poles and let her trickle charge slowly. Batter charger recommended is one that automatically adjusts the wattage (or is that ampirage ?) according to the state of the battery.

Hmmm. Food for thought.

PS: I like the "tickle charger" analogy !! One electron per hour.

Alex B.